Patients and their loved ones face many uncertainties when dealing with cancer. It is natural for anyone facing cancer to be concerned about what the future holds. Understanding the nature of cancer and what to expect can help patients and their loved ones plan treatment, anticipate lifestyle changes, and make quality of life and financial decisions. Cancer patients frequently ask their physicians or search on their own for statistics to answer the question:
"What is my prognosis?"
Prognosis of cancer patients - the prediction of the future course and outcome of a cancer and an indication of the likelihood of recovery from that cancer. The doctor may speak of a favorable prognosis, if the cancer is expected to respond well to treatment, or an unfavorable prognosis, if the cancer is difficult to achieve cancer control. However, prediction is a prediction. When Oncologists discuss a cancer patient's prognosis, they are attempting to project what is likely to occur for that individual patient based on available data on record and past experience with patients in very similar circumstances.
Many factors affect a person’s prognosis. Some of the most important are the type and location of the cancer, the stage of the disease (the extent to which the cancer has metastasized, or spread if at all), and its grade (how abnormal the cancer cells look and how quickly the cancer is likely to grow and spread). In addition, for hematologic cancers (cancers of the blood or bone marrow) such as leukemias and lymphomas, the presence of chromosomal abnormalities and abnormalities in the patient’s complete blood count (CBC) can affect a person’s prognosis. Other factors that may also affect the prognosis include the person’s age, general health, and response to treatment.
You must remember and be very clear because we cannot stress this enough; when doctors discuss a person’s prognosis, they carefully consider all factors that could affect that person’s disease and treatment and then try to predict what might happen. The doctor bases the prognosis on information researchers have collected over many years about hundreds or even thousands of people with cancer but one can predict with 100% certainty what will happen in your care.
Whenever possible, the doctor uses statistics based on groups of people whose situations are most similar to that of an individual patient. Several types of statistics might be used to discuss prognosis. Some commonly used statistics are described below:
• Survival rate indicates the percentage of people with a certain type and stage of cancer who survive for a specific period of time after their diagnosis. For example, 55 out of 100 people with a certain type of cancer will live for at least 5 years, and the other 45 people will not. Survival statistics may further categorize the people who die by cause of death because some will die from unrelated causes. For example, of the 45 people mentioned above, 35 may die from their cancer and 10 may die from other causes.
• The 5-year survival rate indicates the percentage of people who are alive 5 years after their cancer diagnosis, whether they have few or no signs or symptoms of cancer, are free of disease, or are having treatment. Five-year survival rates are used as a standard way of discussing prognosis as well as a way to compare the value of one treatment with another. It does not mean that a patient can expect to live for only 5 years after treatment or that there are no cures for cancer.
• Disease-free or recurrence-free survival rates represent how long one survives free of the disease, rather than until death.
Because survival rates are based on large groups of people, they cannot be used to predict what will happen to a particular patient. No two patients are exactly alike, and treatment and responses to treatment vary greatly.
The doctor may speak of a favorable prognosis if the cancer is likely to respond well to treatment. The prognosis may be unfavorable if the cancer is likely to be difficult to control. It is important to keep in mind, however, that a prognosis is only a prediction. Again, doctors cannot be absolutely certain about the outcome for a particular patient.
Is it helpful to know the prognosis?
Cancer patients and their loved ones face many unknowns. Understanding cancer and what to expect can help patients and their loved ones plan treatment, think about lifestyle changes, and make decisions about their quality of life and finances. Many people with cancer want to know their prognosis. They find it easier to cope when they know the statistics. They may ask their doctor or search for statistics such as survival rates on their own. Other people find statistical information confusing and frightening, and they think it is too impersonal to be of use to them.
The doctor who is most familiar with a patient’s situation is in the best position to discuss the prognosis and to explain what the statistics may mean for that person. At the same time, it is important to understand that even the doctor cannot tell exactly what to expect. In fact, a person’s prognosis may change if the cancer progresses or if treatment is successful.
Seeking information about the prognosis is a personal decision. It is up to each patient to decide how much information he or she wants and how to deal with it.
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